02 Jun Why You Should Spend a Day at a Naked Spa

A day at the spa sounds wonderful. Hours of steam rooms, massages, body scrubs, pampering, and feeling revitalised. Yet what if this spa was a naked one? For some, it may sound like a worse nightmare. Stood naked in front of a room of people and doing supposedly relaxing activities completely in the nude may not be everyone’s cup of tea. We can assure you though that it’s not what you think it will be. In fact, a naked spa is one of the most empowering, liberating and relaxing things you can do.

Known as a Korean spa, the naked spas are growing in popularity and are everything you would expect from a spa, just without any clothes. It’s not sexual – ask for a happy ending and you will be promptly kicked out. It’s simply a way of cleansing and embracing your natural state for the day. Trust us, you’ll feel better for it after.

Here are some reasons why everyone should spend a day at a naked spa at least once in their lives.

You get access to a lot of amazing facilities. The admission fee generally includes most of the facilities of the spa and is usually very affordable. Typical features include the hot and cold plunge pools (these are to open your pores and close them again after), saunas, scrubbing stations, steam rooms, and lockers. Some also have downtime rooms where you can enjoy your treatments and then retreat into a comfy setting to take a nap. For some treatments, such as massages, manicures, and body scrubs, you may need to pay more. If there is one treatment we highly recommend, it’s the body scrub that takes away all the old, dead skin from every part of your body, making you feel cleansed and detoxed after.

You’ll be naked all day. This may sound terrifying to some, but in the Korean spa, you’ll quickly realise that no-one is looking at you and above all, no-one cares what you look like. The spa treatment begins in the locker room where you are given a robe and a key to leave all your things safely stored away. When you enter the spa, you’ll be asked to leave your robe behind and remain totally in the nude. Yes, you’ll be naked but so will everyone else, so the fact you have no clothes on becomes completely irrelevant. It’s normal to feel vulnerable and exposed the first time you strip, but once you realise that your fears are just in your mind and that everyone is just going about their own thing without worrying what you look like, you’ll start to relax. It’s incredibly empowering.

It inspires a new level of connection. When you’re totally naked, you are left with nothing else other than yourself. There are no clothes to draw your identity from, no accessories to signal who you are. Just you in your complete, natural self. If you go there with friends, you’ll have to get past the new discomfort of being naked, embrace it, and connect with them on a completely different level with even stronger bonds.

It will change you and challenge your fears. Being naked at a spa in front of people is one of the best ways of challenging any body image fears you have. Unless you’re a naturist that is used to being naked, a day trip to the Korean spa will probably force you to go outside your comfort zone and walk through unchartered territory. This is exactly what you want – every time we leave our comfort zone, we learn more about ourselves and grow.

One of the most fascinating realisations many Korean spa visitors have on their first trip is how diverse and varied body types are. It’s not a spa where everyone walks around looking like a Victoria Secret Angel model, but a spa where everyone is completely and wonderfully real. It can be eye-opening for some people to see this as it reshapes their idea of body image and standard of beauty. The reality is, we are all just human beings with all our different shapes, sizes and flaws and it’s this that makes us beautiful. A Korean spa isn’t just a way of relaxing the body and leaving with glowing skin; it can also be a spiritual journey and one that treats the mind too.

Korean spas are growing in popularity in the U.S. so if you have an upcoming trip there, try booking yourself into one for the day. In the U.K., there are several well-established naturist spas that are focused on providing quality spa treatment while being in the nude. Among the top ones to visit are the Clover Spa and Hotel in Birmingham and the Bristol Gardens Health Spa in Bristol.

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